Rating:

Maggie Confronts The Truth

Author: Dawn Lee McKenna

There is nothing that will put a dent in a business lunch quite like a gator chomping on a tourist. When Maggie Redmond arrives on scene, she realizes that she knows the dead woman – one of Axel Blackwell’s numerous failed marriages. It also appears that the woman wasn’t killed by the gator at all, but by a person.

As the new sheriff in town pushes the investigators to arrest and charge Maggie’s long-time friend, Axel, her investigations lead her further afield. Why was Axel’s beautiful ex back in town? Was it really just to hook up with him again, or was she after something else? Why did she try to meet with Bennet Boudreaux before her untimely death?

Meanwhile, as the investigation spools out and Maggie’s evidence conflicts with her orders, she struggles with the new twist in her and Boudreaux’s relationship. She knows the truth now, and it’s a hard one. She can’t talk to her mother, can’t even look at her. Everything she has ever known has turned sour, and she wonders if anyone has ever told her the truth.

Apparent Wind follows the usual MO of the Forgotten Coast books. The main story involves an investigation into which local kingpin Boudreaux, of course, has unsavory ties. Meanwhile, the side story focuses on Maggie’s relationship with former Sheriff Wyatt and her changing affiliation with Boudreaux. This secondary story has been evolving over the previous six books and is where the real draw is. While the investigation into gator girl’s untimely death proves sloppy and not that interesting, McKenna finally gives us the relationship answers and ultimate payoffs for which we’ve been waiting, making Apparent Wind a mixed bag.

Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay

First: the good. We’ve been waiting for Maggie to know the secrets we’ve known since book two, and, finally, she does. The showdown is glorious: emotionally gut wrenching, twisting, realistic, heartfelt. All those big emotions, all those actions and reactions, are perfectly on point. We don’t get the full reveal either, but merely the beginning of Maggie’s reaction. It’s evident that nothing will be solved in this book. That, true to life, it will take Maggie a while to sort her emotions, to come to terms with the secrets of others, and to once again find her place in this small town and with these people. I turned the pages, breathless, waiting to see what Maggie would do and how she would be impacted. Her life, good in many ways, has also been one filled with trauma, and just as she was healing, along comes this reveal. Will it be ultimately good or bad? It’s very hard to say, and we do finally get the Maggie/ Boudreaux conversation we’ve been desperately wanting.

The investigation, on the other hand, is just in the way. The new vic (Marisol Corzo) is an out-of-towner, and we have no emotional connection with her. It’s interesting in that it puts Maggie in a difficult position: she will either choose to follow the new sheriff, who is the typical fictional cop pundit with no sense and a hardline to tow, or she can honor her friendship. It’s been done before, and honestly, Maggie didn’t need the extra suffering with Axel.

Further: the investigation is sloppy. The cops, including Maggie, are so haphazard with evidence that even our loving eyes can’t gloss over it. The end answer is delivered, the cops are predictably bad at everything, and Axel gets to play an overly dramatic, not-real-life-at-all role. We didn’t need this: any of this. It doesn’t fit. It doesn’t match the usual finesse and emotional intelligence of these stories, and it just detracts from the secondary plot, which is ultimately the star of the series anyway. The heck with the murder investigation. Let’s get back to Boudreaux.

Poorly executed, unnecessary murder investigation (with pat answer) aside, Apparent Wind does give us what we’ve been wanting for quite a while: resolution and the next step in the ongoing story of Maggie’s relationships and connections. On top of the Boudreaux story movement, we also get another big (kind of overdue) movement that is very, very satisfying. Onward to the next in the series!

 

– Frances Carden

Follow my reviews on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/xombie_mistress

Follow my reviews on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/FrancesReviews

 

Forgotten Coast Series In Order

  1. Low Tide
  2. Riptide
  3. What Washes Up
  4. Landfall
  5. Dead Wake
  6. Awash
  7. Apparent Wind
  8. Lake Morality
  9. Squall Line
  10. Overboard
Frances Carden
Latest posts by Frances Carden (see all)